A Report on the Activities of the Disaster Research Center (DRC)

Description: The Disaster Research Center (DRC) was founded in 1963. In the more than a decade of continuous operation since then it has engaged in a variety of different studies. But the basic focus has remained the same.
At the time of its founding the Center set as its major research objective the analyzing of emergency organizations and their response to as well as prior planning for large scale community emergencies, particularly where a natural disaster agent is involved. This focus was taken becausewhile there had been prior studies of disaster reponses, they had primarily focused on the victims. Particularly no attention had bben given to the activities of the emergency organizations in the community, even though the actions of scuh groups generally determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the reactions in the emergency period. In a basic sense, this focus on organizations during the emergency period has continued to be the major focus in most of the studies undertaken by the Center.